Shirley is an 1849 novel by Charlotte Bronte. Her second novel, it was set in post-Napoleonic Wars Yorkshire and follows the centers around the uprisings in the Yorkshire textile industry. It tackles ideas of gender equality and is responsible for the name Shirley (the female protagonist’s name) becoming a common woman’s name–before the publication of this, it was a distinctly masculine name. Charlotte Bronte (1816 - 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, and the oldest sister in the world-famous trio of literary sisters. Along with her sisters’, her novels have become classics of English literature still read and enjoyed by people of all ages the world over. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this classic volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a biography of Charlotte Bronte by G. K. Chesterton, and an essay by Virginia Woolf on the Bronte family home, Haworth.